Music Downloading Trial Begins

Boston University student Joel Tenenbaum of Providence, R.I., is on trial in a Boston federal court accused of "downloading songs and making music files available for distribution on the Kazaa file-sharing network."

The Associated Press reports:

Tenenbaum's case is the second such case to go to trial.

Last month, a federal jury in Minneapolis ruled that a Minnesota woman must pay $1.92 million for willful infringement of the recording industry's copyrights by posting music on Kazaa.

The industry has threatened about 35,000 people with charges of copyright infringement over the past five years, typically offering to settle for $3,000 to $5,000.